Sunday, January 08, 2012

To dye for

My daughter requested a new, bigger blanket for toddler N, who has outgrown the baby-sized ones I made. It would need to be washable, of course, and wool (wool is naturally flame resistant, plus it breathes), but I did not want to break the bank. So I purchased some undyed skeins from KnitPicks (my first purchase from them), with the plan of dyeing the yarn myself, using KoolAid.

(I keep typing "KookAid".)

An article on knitty provided the how-to and examples of what each flavor might look like. My daughter chose the Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, but I decided it might be prudent to work up a sample. It's really simple.

First, I measured out one ounce of yarn.

Not a bowl of spaghetti

Washed the yarn.

The casserole dish is sitting on a burner but not over a flame

Mixed one package of unsweetened KoolAid into water in a pot.

Blue lagoon

Added the yarn and heated it all to almost a boil.

Blue spaghetti

Let sit for 30 minutes, then rinsed and washed the yarn.

Smells like KoolAid

Ta-da!

The color, while very pretty, is uneven in saturation, which my daughter likes but is something to keep in mind for future adventures in dyeing. Once the yarn is dry, I am going to knit up a swatch for this pattern: Prairie Blanket by Oat Couture.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

One of my favorite knit patterns. I have made it twice now. Once in worsted, once in DK. Both were wonderful.

Wanderingcatstudio said...

That will make a lovely blanket!

Heather said...

I've always wanted to try dying yarn, this looks pretty cool after its done. I don't use a perfectly even color on many projects so the color variation would be perfect. You've inspired me to order some knitpicks yarn and try it :D